Monica sat there, she had for the past 30 minutes or so, her virtual room was a mess, much like her real life room, this one however could never be fixed with a simple spring cleaning, this one would require contractors and the like. She sat there waiting,he said he would be here, and she believed him, her blood began to boil when she thought of Willow, she had been shot in the face, in the fucking face, she had done that just to spite her, Monica was sure of it. She was about to go on fuming when she heard a crunch of boots outside her room, she drew back to a corner and prepared herself to logout, but the person that stepped through that door was none other than Matt. she rushed him burying her face in his chest no longer caring that she was completely naked, it didn't matter, he had seen her naked, he had done more than just see her in fact.

“I am glad you waited, sorry it took so long, I had to get patched up after the fight.” he said with a smile, she looked up at him, admiring that smile, the warm feeling of pressing up against him and the arm now wrapped around her lower body.

“I wouldn't get to intimate if I were you two.” said another female voice, and looking over Monica saw Willow walk through the door as well. “This game has systems to make sure people don't get ciber abused,” she said in a dry voice. “Punishment for any contact that is considered sexual in nature includes bans from the game and if the offence is to bad then even reports being made to the proper authorities.” Monica let go of Matt, even if she didn't want to, and Willow slid forward and slid her hands down his pants.

“WHa- but you jus-” Monica started and moved to grab Willow by the shoulders but Matt had already pulled her up to standing and had pushed her back, giving her a stern look.

“Of course those rules only apply to players, npc, well they are just bits of code right?” she shot a smile at Monica, who was grinding her teeth.

Matt shook his head and sat a large and rather bulky pack down on the floor, sticking out of the damn thing had to be at least four or five gun barrels. He dug around until he pulled out some clothing and handed it over to her. “Sorry we are running low on armor and clothing, but this should do for you.” he handed her some clothing and she pulled it on, it was a blue tank top and blue jeans, both with more than a few holes in them, but both also possible for her, and then he pulled out an odd looking thing before she realized it was an iron cuirass, though rusty it would be a better than not having anything, so she slipped it on, and afterward she was given a set of thigh high boots and some arm protection. She felt much better now that she was clothed in some armor.

Much better indeed. He also handed her a knife and a pistol with a holster. She had never been a big shooter player, but she had played a few of them, so she knew the basics. If she intended on playing this with him however, she would have to get better. She smiled, about two hours ago she had been terrified of all the things she had seen here, but now, now she had Matt, and though she hated to admit it and would never in her life say it outloud she was also glad Willow was here.

“Where to?” she asked.

“According to Willow there is a city not to far from here, we are running low on armor and weapons and other essentials so we are going to go trade there.” he said, turning and settling the pack on his shoulders. “It shouldn't be too far.”

“Won't you, you know-” she started and he looked back at her with questioning eyes. “Be shot, since you are a raider.” it wasn't Matt that answered this question it was instead Willow.

“The guards that protect Glassglo are only concerned with the city itself, they really could care less with what happens outside the walls, so everyone is welcome in Glassglo even Raiders, so long as they keep the laws of the town while in the town.” she said.

“Oh,” she said, her smile faltering as Willow spoke, she really didn't want to talk to the other woman. A chill ran through her spine, oh gods, she had just thought of Willow as another woman, this line of thinking had to be shut down, if she was another woman then that would mean that Matt was cheating on her, she assumed with how bold Willow had been just a minute ago. Shaking her head she stood up after lacing the boots, “So we are off to this city then?” she asked, and received a sharp nod in reply. “How far is it?” she asked, adjusting the tank top under her metal armor so the armor was not touching bare skin.

“Three miles or so.” she said, and looked over at Matt, “Do we really have to take her with us? She will simply slow us down.” Monica’s cheeks darkened though whether it was from anger or embarrassment Matt had no way of knowing.

“She won't slow us down,” he said back to Willow, “she might have not played this game before but she is no slouch,” he stated matter of factly, Monica couldn't tell him how good it felt to be thought so highly of, even if she herself felt that trust was misplaced, she was sure as hell out of her element. Sure she had played tons of Vrmmos, but the issue is those had set paths, storylines and arcs to follow and a story to tell where you were the hero, here however… she looked out the blown out window that was the right side of her apartment, a few stories above ground level. The land spread out before her, a jumbled mess, all broken buildings at odd angles and the bones of blown out appartments, it created a unique vista in the backdrop of the sun, that was now rising towards the center of the sky, casting shadows into the broken vista, providing a depth to the scene before her.

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“How did all this happen?” she asked softly, her hand gesturing to the dead city, her dead city.

Willow looked at her, trying to figure the woman out, she was reacting completely differently than she had thought she would, this was not quite what Willow had in mind when she had pictured working with the other woman, Monica’s words echoed through her head as she looked at the back of the woman.

“ I will be damned before I let my friend down, and before I loose this opportunity to do what my heart wants.” she pushed the finger in deeper, “especially when the one causing the disturbance is nothing more than some lines of code and polygons.”

The words echoed in her head, or rather would echo if she had any head for them to echo in, she sighed, those words had hurt her deep, she knew, and it was not being called lines of code and polygons, it was the truth behind them, the conviction, she had seen it in the other woman’s bones, had felt it in the other’s voice.

She hated it.

She envied it.

Her thoughts and emotions, or at least what she thought were emotions roiled around in her, creating a dark storm cloud that turned inside her head. If she had one that was.

Taking a deep breath she started speaking, she would have to get use to working with this woman, have to get used to her being around, seeing as she was now a part of Matthew's life as well as herself.

Small steps.

Small concessions.

Ah well, she can't claim to like the woman, who knows her finger might slip, another accidental discharge of her weapon. The thought brought a smile to her face, which she promptly hid. “Why don't we get started walking, I will tell you on the way.” she said, surprised how easy that had come out of her mouth. Monica to had looked surprised at the easy response, Matt however simply grinned a grin like he had known what had just happened in her head…

He winked at her, and she couldn't help but snorting, he really had no idea, no damned idea at all. The path they took was a small trail that seemed well enough traveled, she watched as Matt marked the path on his tablet, perhaps marking it as a target for future raids, or maybe simply setting up his map so he knew where they were heading. “There are tons of theories as to how the world got into this state, some think it was a new world war, some think it was the use of nuclear devices, others that anarch and uprising caused the societal downfall.” Willow shrugged. “In the world there was enough evidence of any of those theories to make any of those plausible, so it was left up to the player to interpret the lore in whatever desire they see fit.”

“Isn't that just lazy?” Monica said, adjusting the straps of her metal armor again. “That way no one has to come up with the full story they can simply leave it blank and let players imagine the rest?” it was Matt who answered however, not Willow.

“Not at all, in fact that is much easier, the thing that makes this hard is two fold, you see there must be enough evidence to make any of them possible and it also needs to be made in such a way that one does not overshadow the other, meaning each and every bit of lore must be meticulously combed over to see how adding it would change the dynamic of the story telling,” he looked over at Willow, “That is called Soulsborne storytelling is it not?”

“Soulsborne?” Monica asked.

“Apparently there was this great genre of games, they told stories indirectly leaving all interpretation, the leaders of this genre were games in the dark souls series and the bloodborne series,” he said.

Willow simply nodded, “It is indeed hard work, the A.I that runs this game spends a lot of its processing power on that subject alone.” they walked on, the conversation flowing easily now between the three of them, sometimes on things in the game, other times on real life things Willow had no understanding of.

Yet…

About an hour into their journey they ran into the first living thing they had seen, it was in fact three men all armed to the teeth, and telling them to halt. They were extremely near to the city, in fact they could see it suspended some four stories over there heads and a quarter mile to the north. Glassglo was a city that was built above the streets, practically flying in the sky, it was suspended between five different skyscrapers, and had several thousand stilts sunk deep into the ground below it. There were five different entrances to the sky city, each one going through one of the supporting pillars of skyscrapers.

“If you wish to get into Glassglo you need to pay for passage,” said one gruff looking man, he wore dark leathers and polished metal armor, he had brown hair and even darker eyes. He held an assault rifle that looked like it had been hobbled together with spare parts.

“We are outside of the city, no law here.” Willow whispered in his ear.

“How much do you want?” he asked looking at the three of them, his face blank in a way that frightened Monica, and exhilarated Willow.

“You can pay us in guns, armor, ammo, or” he eyed Willow and Monica, “A show...” he learned off. The game didn't protect people from showing off, simply from touching.

“Ammo?” Matt asked, “You want my bullets?” he looked at them the corner of his mouth twitching up. “How many?” he asked again.

“For three of you, and your packs, I'll say fifty.” the thug said with a smile.

“I'll give you three.” Matt responded.

“Three? What the fuck do you take us for beggars?”

“Trust me, you wont want more than three.” Matt smiled and before any of them reacted he drew his revolver and fired three shots, each one lodging into the heads of the tollmen. Monica had made a small squeak when he had fired the shots, she looked at the three of them, laying there in a pool of there own blood and brains. She however didn't balk or even make a sound when he reached down and started stripping them of their valuables along with Willow. She even started working on the last one. After all there stuff was looted Matt turned to look at the two women over the pile of armor and weapons in his hands. “You ladies ready to go shopping?” he asked with a smile.